A couple more quotes from Silver on the Tree. Pulled out separately because these are about, not good and evil or the fate of humankind, but about the nature of art:

“So the Dark did a simple thing. They showed the maker of the sword his own uncertainty and fear. Fear of having done the wrong thing–fear that having done this one great thing, he would never be able to accomplish anything of great worth–fear of age, of insufficiency, of unmet promise. All such great fears, that are the gift of people given the gift of making, and lie always somewhere in their minds.”

“Make no mistake now, the Lost Land is not a gentle place. There is hardness here, and an indifference to all emotions other than those belonging to the Land, that is another face of the beauty of the rose garden, and the skill of the craftsmen, the makers. Do not underestimate that.”

Both from the bard Gwion, who is also Taliesin.